Copenhagen and After

Did anyone notice that all the opinions of today's newspaper are by foreign writers? This is becoming an increasingly frequent occurrence with this paper. The lead op-ed claims to tell the 'truth' about Copenhagen; coming from Fidel Castro, this 'truth' takes the form of paeans to Cuba's allies: notice his references to the 'wise and deep observations' of Evo Morales, the 'timely' remarks of Hugo Chavez in contrast to the 'deceitful, demagogic, and ambiguous' remarks of Obama. For countries like Cuba without emissions comparable to those of large countries, it is easy to take the moral high ground and preach to the crowd. India used to be one of them till recently; so it is saying something that we have now managed to graduate to the club of nations who actually decide rather than complain. Of course, it is understandable for Cubans who did not have a seat at the high table to do so but quite puzzling to see The Hindu make this case to Indians who were actually involved in the negotiations that agreed upon the text of the statement. This is not to say that one should not care about the democratic process and concerns of smaller and less influential nations of the developing world but with a non-binding declaration at issue, the matter is not of such importance as to merit a campaign in India for justice to Cubans.